BASEBALL; Subway Series (of Introductions) As Mets and Yanks Show and Tell

By TYLER KEPNER

Published: January 12, 2005

On big days at Yankee Stadium this summer, Randy Johnson will bring his fastball, his slider and his scowl. On his big day there yesterday, Johnson brought an apology. He was a 6-foot-10 thesaurus for ways to say ''I'm sorry.''

Unprofessional. Foolish. Uncalled for. Embarrassed. On his first day as a Yankee, Johnson used all those words to apologize for shoving a television camera during a confrontation with a cameraman Monday while walking down Madison Avenue on his way to take a physical.

The shove covered the front pages of the New York tabloids -- The New York Post called him Big Jerk -- and before Johnson said anything else at his introductory news conference yesterday, he tried to make amends.

''I'm coming to one of the biggest media markets and one of the winningest franchises in the history of any sport, and that's the way I enter?'' Johnson said after several questions about the incident. ''I'm sorry. I don't know how many more times I can say that.''

Thirty TV cameras were crowded into the news conference, and Johnson let them shoot as much as they wanted. It was the second half of a New York doubleheader, which began with the Mets and Carlos Beltran in Queens. Johnson turned feisty only once, during an exchange with the WCBS reporter who was with the cameraman Johnson confronted on Monday.

But Johnson pledged to work with the news media, and he asked that the matter be forgotten.

''Obviously, yesterday my actions were uncalled for,'' Johnson said. ''I'm sorry. I hope I can move on and get another chance to prove that I'm worth coming here.''

The Yankees say he is. Johnson is 41 years old, and no pitcher since Warren Spahn in 1963 has won 20 games at that age.

Johnson has more strikeouts than any other left-hander in major league history, and he has improved with age. In the last five seasons, he has 86 victories, the most in the majors, and a 2.69 earned run average, which is second to Pedro Mart?z.

''I can tell you right now I will probably lose at least one or two games here this year,'' Johnson said, smiling. ''I'm not going to go undefeated.''

He might have to come close to satisfy George Steinbrenner, the Yankees' principal owner. The Yankees have been interested in acquiring Johnson since 1998, when Steinbrenner wanted to trade for him in midseason. General Manager Brian Cashman refused, not wanting to disrupt a winning team.

Johnson was a free agent after that season, and despite an appeal from Steinbrenner, he signed with Arizona. The Yankees tried and failed to acquire him at the trading deadline last July, and a three-way trade with the Diamondbacks and the Dodgers fell apart in December.

The Yankees then revived talks with Arizona and sent starters Javier Vazquez and Brad Halsey, catcher Dioner Navarro and $9 million to the Diamondbacks for Johnson, who received a two-year, $32 million contract extension, through 2007.

Randy Levine, the president of the Yankees, presented Johnson with his No. 41 jersey yesterday. ''We've been trying to bring you here for a long, long time,'' Levine, who negotiated the deal, said.

Johnson has figured prominently in the Yankees' history over the last decade. He beat them twice in the 1995 division series with Seattle and three times in the 2001 World Series for Arizona. Both times, Johnson won the final game in relief.

Over lunch at Fresco by Scotto in Midtown yesterday, Cashman said, he told Johnson that he probably cost the Yankees two titles. Cashman did not include 2004, when the Yankees' failure to trade for Johnson may have cost them another.

In Game 7 of the American League Championship Series against Boston, the Yankees were forced to start Kevin Brown, who flopped. Brown's performance, followed by Vazquez's disastrous relief appearance, underscored the Yankees' failure to upgrade their pitching last winter.

''Every off-season, you concentrate on areas of weakness,'' Cashman said yesterday. ''And I'll be honest, I did that last year and thought it was going to work out. It didn't.''

The Yankees have revamped their rotation again, adding Johnson, Carl Pavano and Jaret Wright to the veterans Brown and Mike Mussina. The Yankees never really replaced Roger Clemens until adding Johnson, a pitcher with Clemens's competitive edge.

''I think he has the opportunity to have the type of impact that Roger Clemens had, because this guy is one of those rare pitchers, like a Roger Clemens,'' Cashman said. ''I absolutely feel that he can have that type of impact and slot everybody accordingly and certainly can lead this staff. He's not afraid. Roger was never afraid. Probably, he's as much of a competitor as Roger.''

With Johnson at the top of the rotation, Mussina slides into the No. 2 spot, where he often seems more comfortable. Pavano, who signed a four-year, $39.95 million contract last month, could be the third starter, somewhat out of the spotlight. And Johnson's ability to pitch deep in games should keep the relievers, who grew weary last year, fresh.

The plan hinges on Johnson's staying healthy. Last year, he needed regular injections of synthetic gel in his creaky right knee. But Johnson said it would help not to have to run the bases, and he said the Yankees' doctor told him that a 25-year-old would envy his elbow and shoulder.

''I might be 41, but I'm a young 41,'' Johnson said. ''I feel great. I've never felt better, and I'm looking forward to what I have left in me.''

Johnson might not know the demands of the New York news media, but he understands the demands of his boss.

''I've been brought on board here to help the Yankees win a championship,'' Johnson said. ''Nothing less than that is acceptable. That's their thought, and that's my thought.''